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This is the setup that everything else depends on. What you enter here decides which obligations Bumara creates for you, when they fall due, and which services you can request. Set aside about twenty minutes and have your registration documents to hand.

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What to have ready

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Step 1 — Organisation details

1

Enter your legal and trading names

The legal name must match your PACRA certificate exactly — this is what appears on regulator submissions. The trading name is what customers see on invoices, if it differs.
2

Choose your entity type

Company, business name, partnership, trust or NGO. This is the single most important field in setup: a company files annual returns that a business name does not, and the entity type controls which PACRA services are offered to you.
3

Enter your registration number and TPIN

Your PACRA registration number and your ten-character ZRA TPIN. Bumara checks the format as you type.
4

Set your financial year end

Entered as a day and month. Annual returns are due a fixed number of months after this date, so an incorrect year end produces incorrect due dates for every year that follows.
5

Add your address and contacts

Registered address, trading address if different, phone number and the email address that should receive official correspondence.
Entity type and financial year end drive due date calculations. If you change either later, existing filings keep the due dates they were created with — only future ones are recalculated. Get these right now rather than correcting them later.

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Step 2 — Connect your regulators

For each regulator you are registered with, you create a connection. Connecting tells Bumara to start tracking that regulator’s obligations for you.
1

Open the regulator workspace

From the sidebar, choose the regulator — PACRA, ZRA, NAPSA or NHIMA. If you have not connected yet, you see a Connect prompt instead of the workspace.
2

Enter your registration details with that regulator

Your employer number or taxpayer identifier for that body, plus anything specific to it — for example, which ZRA tax types you are registered for.
3

Choose your tax types or schemes where asked

ZRA in particular asks which regimes apply to you: PAYE if you have employees, turnover tax or standard income tax depending on your turnover, withholding tax if you pay for certain services. Only tick what you are actually registered for.
4

Confirm the connection

Bumara immediately creates the obligations that apply to your entity type and selections, and generates the first filing for each with its due date.
Your available regulators depend on your plan. See Plan and billing for which tiers include which bodies.

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Step 3 — Review what Bumara created

After connecting, open Compliance to see the result. You should find:
  • One obligation per recurring thing you must file — for example “PAYE Return (monthly)” or “Annual Return (annually)”.
  • One filing per obligation for the current period, with a due date.
  • A checklist of tasks inside each filing telling you what to do.
If something is missing or something you do not owe has appeared, it is nearly always the entity type or the tax types you ticked. Correct those and the obligations update. See Obligations and filings for what these mean in detail.

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Step 4 — Authorise a representative

Some regulators — PACRA in particular — require a named person authorised to act for your business. Bumara cannot submit to those regulators on your behalf until this is in place.
1

Open the regulator's Authorisation page

Inside the regulator workspace, choose Authorisation.
2

Name your representative

Their full name, role at your business, email address and phone number. This is usually a director, the company secretary, or the owner.
3

Upload the letter of authority

A signed letter authorising that person to act for the business with that regulator.
4

Set the validity period

From and until dates. Bumara warns you before an authorisation expires, because an expired one blocks submissions.
The authorisation moves from Pending to Approved once reviewed. See Authorised representative.

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Step 5 — The compliance health check

Once your regulators are connected, Bumara offers a compliance health check — a review of where your business actually stands with each regulator right now, including anything outstanding from before you joined. This is optional but strongly recommended. Most businesses discover something they did not know about. See Compliance health check.

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Setup checklist

  • Legal name matches your PACRA certificate
  • Entity type is correct
  • Financial year end is correct
  • TPIN entered and accepted
  • At least one regulator connected
  • Obligations reviewed and look right
  • Authorised representative added where the regulator requires one
  • Reminder preferences set — see Reminders and notifications
  • Team invited with the right roles
Next: Compliance health check to find out what is already outstanding, or Invite your team to bring colleagues in.
Last modified on August 4, 2026